Chapter 3: Over hill over dale

The rain began with a light drizzle shortly after dawn and the flash of lighting promised a harder downpour. The first lightning bolt came from a distance to the southwest. I counted six seconds from seeing the flash in the distance, to the booming sound of thunder that followed. Hopefully the storm would pass by us instead of through us, but for some reason I knew that it wouldn’t, my luck of late wouldn’t allow for that.

We entered the mountain pass slower than we had been traveling up to this point, the light rain making us cautious. The ever increasing winds spoke of worsening weather for high path crossing. Eight men in front led the way while Sister Emily and I rode side by side followed by our Postulants, the carriage and then the rest of the Megan’s soldiers. Our vanguard sped up at the first flash, but Sergeant Robin told them to slow down and pay attention to what they were doing. They listened and instead of riding four wide, they changed their formation to two by two.

“Chandra, pay attention, I think that the rain might make this more dangerous than our previous crossing,” She nodded her understanding.

“That warning is for you too Postulant,” Echoed Sister Emily to Dina. Her Postulant replied with a ‘Yes, Sister.’

It wasn’t long before a trickle of water ran down the path under the horses. The lightning eased in its frequency as the storm approached in earnest, seeming to disappear entirely once the center was over us. The downpour chilled me and glancing at the girls they looked worse than even I felt. This had to be one of the first winter storms even though it was early fall. What made it worse, was that the storm seemed to stall its passing once it encountered the mountains, gathering above us. The higher we went the harder the rain fell and the wetter we became. It took us five hours to reach the midpoint of the days expected journey where a small plateau resided.

While the soldiers set up for lunch, I found Sergeant Robin. “Should we remain here until the storm passes by or do you think that it will be safe for us to continue on this afternoon?”

“I’m not sure that this storm is going to pass before the morning, Milord. Storms that get trapped by the mountains last for days.”

“Shit. I was afraid of that. In that case, erect a large tent and make sure that everyone gets something to eat and changes their under clothes to something dry. Your armor should protect them from the worst of the weather. I would hate to see what that path is like after constant rain.”

“Yes, Milord.”

Silence was one thing, safety was something completely different. That he spoke to me at all showed just how worried he was about this crossing.

The rain was already making its way down the path via a little stream. I noticed the groves in the rocks next to the cliff edge and the path that we were taking and hoped that it would be enough.

I offered the ladies the carriage to change into something dry, Sister Emily didn’t think that it would be necessary. A little water wouldn’t hurt her or her charge. I didn’t give Chandra that option nor Postulant Dina ordering both change into dry outfits, even if I knew that it both would be drenched again later. From the deep scowl, Sister Emily didn’t like me telling her Postulant what to do, but didn’t counter my orders. Both Hector and Armand also used the Soldier’s tent to change. I’m not sure how exactly the dry clothes would help in the long run but I could hope that it would at least make traveling after lunch easier for a while and lesson their chances of catching a cold. I know that I felt better after I changed.

Sergeant Robin took point along with a pair of other soldiers. From what I could see they were checking the viability of the pass. Their actions didn’t slow us down much but I felt safer with the experienced soldier leading the way. Visibility had noticeably diminished since lunch in the last hour after our rest stop and judging by the clouds it looked only to get worse. Instead of arriving at the keep around dusk we would be hours past it at this rate. Maybe well into the night.

Please Bright Lady, see us through this safely.

The places that the path was wide enough for us to turn around a carriage were few and far between and that worried me. I hadn’t considered ditching the carriage, but that had to be a possibility. The real reason that I wanted to keep it was it made for a great wagon to transport our supplies so that we did not have to exist on travel rations. Less imprortantly, it was not my carriage to dispose of, Chandra borrowed it from her brother and I wanted to see that it was returned in one piece.

Thinking of her, I dropped back to ride along side of Chandra. I waved Dina ahead to ride with her Sister.

“How are you doing?” I half yelled just to be heard over the downpour.

“Wet,” she grimaced. I had to strain to hear her over the crack of the latest in a long line of unseen thunderbolts. She did look wet and miserable, not that I expected anything else.

“I want you two to stay close to the front the pack. Even though you are miserable, I need you to pay attention. I don’t know how bad this pass is in the rain, but be ready.” I got that ‘I already knew that’ look.

I took a deep breath, that was the easy part of the conversation, “If someone goes over the side, I don’t want you to help them. Leave that to others.” That got me a sharp look. “It is too dangerous right now, I want you to promise me that you will keep back if there is a problem.”

I saw the protests starting to form. “What if it is you?”

“Even if it is me, I don’t want you to come to my aid. I can take care of myself. Let the men risk themselves first. It is your job to get home and tell your father what is happening, even if I cannot be there.” No, she did not like that. She did not like that at all.

“Promise me that you will do everything that you can to get home safe.”

“If you need help, I am going to help you.”

“No, you’re not, I hate to do this but I order you, Postulant Chandra to stay safe until you get home. If that means that I fall off a cliff then so be it.”

“No,” she said silently. I certainly couldn’t hear her.

So much for the programmed obedience of the apprentices.

“Remember you promised to obey me. Besides, it won’t come to that, if the worst does happen you will have to trust me.”

“Yes, my Lord,” she didn’t look happy, but then I couldn’t blame her. That she would be safe is all that mattered to me.

Goddess, I hated riding in the rain.

Just before dusk when we all felt a rumbling coming from the mountain only to see mud, bushes, rocks and water cascade down the mountainside above us. I heard the echo of my words among the men as I called out ‘Avalanche’.

I urged Juniper forward shouting for Chandra to run from my position on the exposed outside of the path. The rumbling increased in volume and even though I was riding a galloping horse I could still feel the ground shake. From my quick glance over my shoulder, the rearguard were unable to pass the carriage. I only could afford a single glance, the narrowness of the pass made me keep my attention firmly on guiding Juniper so that we did not fall off the edge ourselves.

Fortunately for my sanity, I couldn’t hear or watch the avalanche sweep the soldiers behind the carriage down the side of the cliff. I knew that anyone behind the carriage was doomed and I wasn’t sure if any of us would survive. The tremendous noise of the avalanche drowned out any of our attempts at communication. The only way that I could describe it would be as an old steam locomotive passing while blowing its whistle as I stood on the edge of the platform.

We didn’t stop our mad dash until the rumbling stopped. The time elapsed couldn’t have been more than a minute, even though it felt like hours. Juniper danced around for a few minutes after the ground stopped vibrating, before she would let me survey the carnage.

I wish I hadn’t.

The pass would have to be cleared and shored back up, there was no safe way down the return path until someone sent a crew up to clear the way. The avalanche piled filled the trail with rocks, mud and other debris. The carriage and five of the men that followed it made it past the mudslide, or whatever it was, while the rest of the men and horses were nowhere to be seen. Twelve men, twenty horses including all of their provisions didn’t make it. I even lost our spare horses to the avalanche.

We sat there in silence as we surveyed the carnage...

“... ‘el...”

“Quiet, I thought that I heard someone.” The rain hadn’t stopped and that distorted the sound that I heard.

“‘elp.”

That definitely was a man’s voice. I dismounted and carefully walked to the edge After enhancing my hearing and vision I scanned what I could of the cliff.

“There,” the white arm of Sister Emily pointed me to the man draped over a tree trunk hanging like a rag doll. After I enhanced my vision even more the blurry figure couldn’t have made that call, he had a branch through his midsection. He had to be dead.

“The guy on the tree is dead, it has to be someone else.” I didn’t stop looking as I relayed this information.